A provision added to a bill to help fund the war in Iraq will also require tough inspections of Canadian trash trucks entering Michigan to make it more difficult for potential terrorists to use these trucks to smuggle explosives or chemical or radiological agents into the U.S.

"The amendment steps up our inspections of Canadian trash by requiring a physical and technological scanning of each truck," said U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who added that 130 trash trucks per day cross the border into Michigan. "This is just one more step we must take in our ongoing efforts to make our hometowns secure."

The amendment, which was added late Thursday to an $80 billion US spending bill, calls for inspections to begin immediately on all trash trucks coming into Michigan.

By May 1, the amendment states, both the Ambassador and Blue Water bridges would be equipped with high-tech detection equipment to search for the presence of radiological and nuclear materials and weapons.

Bureau of Customs and Border Protection inspectors formally trained in the process of detecting radioactive materials in cargo and equipped with portal monitoring devices and hand-held isotope identifiers will operate this equipment.